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Thursday, 19 July 2012

Victory Party or Pity Party? Your choice. #goodlife

Posted on 05:26 by Unknown
Helen Keller
Helen Keller (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

"I complained that I had no shoes till I saw a man that had no feet." Unknown.

 Essential to living a sane life: proper perspective about our problems.

Most people would rather have a pity party than a victory party.

Ten pounds in 2 1/2 weeks and I feel great. Weight Watchers and an hour workout six times a week. I've lost my mind, you say? No, I've found it. 

Mrs. Grace Adkins, our 85 year old learning lab coordinator at the school, started riding her bike an hour a day, six days a week back in January and has de-aged at least 15 years. She looks great and her mind is sharp and totals 120 miles a week. She's 85 and makes no excuses. What's my problem?


My problem was making excuses instead of taking care of business. If this body I inhabit isn't my business then nothing else is. Knee problems aside, I can do something for an hour a day six days a week: walk, turtle jog (my very slow form of running since I hurt my knee), yard work, pilates, treadmill, play Wii fit. If an 85 year old can do it, I have no excuse at all for my decision to be sedentary. Let me ask you, if this 43 year old can do it, what is your excuse?

I choose the victory party not the pity party. How about you?
"Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it." Helen Keller
"It is never too late to be what you might have been." George Eliot 
I'm committed to living a good life, are you?

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Posted in fitness, inspiration | No comments

Tuesday, 17 July 2012

Collaborative Writing in the Cloud: A collection of resources for writing teachers

Posted on 15:33 by Unknown


I've begun work on the website companion to Collaborative Writing in the Cloud: An essential guidebook aligned with Common Core standards that will be published this winter. (The draft is due now.) I'm referencing some of these pages in the book and am asking for your help if you're involved in teaching writing, collaborative writing, or helping teachers. Right now, I've drafted the pages on Twitter hashtags, chats, and lists for writing teachers and also networks where teachers can join. You're invited! The next page I'll create will be open collaborative writing projects. Feel free to request to join the wiki but make sure that you list in the comments who you are and why you want to join so I'll approve you and then feel free to join in. Who knows, something you add may be the very thing I missed and it may make it into the draft. Feel free to join in and help me get the right resources. Also, I"ve posted two recent presentations: Common Core in the Cloud and the ISTE 2012 presentation about Common Core and Collaborative Writing that I did with Dr. Leigh Zeitz, Jennifer Roberts, Suzie Nestico, and Julie Lindsay (with Ben Curran moderating.) Follow the link to join in and share.

via Diigo http://writinginthecloud.wikispaces.com

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Posted in blogger, collaborativewriting, commoncore, education, inthenews | No comments

National Writing Project: National Community open to anyone #engchat

Posted on 12:50 by Unknown


The National Writing Project (NWP) has a community open to anyone who is interested in writing. If you teach writing, you should consider joining this community. They also have a "Twibe" (for sharing tweets) that you can use to disseminate tweets on the topic of writing. They've always been on the forefront of writing and research. Great organization and some great conversations about common core as well.

via Diigo http://connect.nwp.org/national

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Common Core Standards: Lessons, Ideas, and Discussions #ccchat

Posted on 09:36 by Unknown
Scholastic has an excellent article on the shifts by Common Core.
Read their article for information. This photo is from that article on Scholastic.
I've been collecting common core resources as I research and write for my upcoming book, Collaborative Writing in the Cloud, from eye on education. The hashtag for this topic on Twitter is #ccchat .
  • 500+ High School (Grades 9-12) U.S. History #sschat #ccchat resources via @sharemylesson
    High school US history topics separated by topic and grade level. There are some interesting simulations included in this list of resources.
    tags: education history ushistory sschat commoncore teaching buffer

  • 1.3K+ High School (Grades 9-12) World History Activities #sschat #ccchat
    Social studies lessons for high school relating to world history and aligned with common core standards.
    tags: teaching commoncore sschat education

  • A Flat World and Our Place In It | 21C Global
    Suzie Nestico (Flat Classroom certified teacher and project manager) aligns her Flat Clasroom and NetGenEd projects with Common Core standards.) Here's how she aligned with common core writing standards. I like how she fully discloses to students what she's doing and why as well as providing links and instructions to the students.
    tags: education commoncore writing ccchat news flatclassroom flatclassroomproject bestpractices

  • Dr. Z - EIT Wikibook
    Dr. Leigh Zeitz shared at ISTE 2012 about his use of Distributed learning Communities to facilitate collaborative creation. Here, he talks about his Emerging Instructional Technology wikibook that his students build. This is an excellent framework for writing, collaborating, and working with technology and was presented as an example of writing standard W.x.6 (the x is the grade level).
    tags: education news writing commoncore technology

  • Roberts On Writing
    My friend Jennifer Roberts is a digital lead teacher in San Diego. She copresented with us at ISTE on Common Core in the Cloud and rocked it. Here's the website she built about Writing Response groups and what she does in the classroom. She's very knowledgeable and I love what she's doing with her students.
    tags: engchat writing commoncore news

  • NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program
    national Novel Writing month is in November but this website is so much more. I heard Jennifer Roberts share this with our Panel on Writing with Common Core at ISTE 2012 and this website is a phenomenal way to meet the 3rd standard W.X.3 about Writing narratives. Students collaboratively work together. You can do this any time but November is the big emphasis. I think every school should participate in Nanowrimo -- just love it.
    tags: education news teaching writing engchat commoncore

  • Collaborative Writing in the Cloud
    I'm going to be sharing a lot about collaborative writing and Common Core writing standards. For US educators to start teaching collaborative writing that we're going to have to align and help them understand how it will meet the standards they are using. While this will relate to anyone who wants to use cloud tools, those implementing common core standards will be very interested. This is the form to complete if you're interested in getting a copy of the book.
    tags: education news iste12 iste commoncore

  • Common Core State Standards - SML
    Common Core information center. Some good resources on Common Core and what is happening with them.
    tags: commoncore news education

  • Information about Common Core State Standards - Questions about Common Core - Share My Lesson
    Common core forums have been created in the share my lesson website - cosponsored by the aft and tes, this is going to be an interesting place where teachers converse.
    tags: education commoncore news newapp

  • Drape's Takes: You! Yes, you! What do you think about the Common Core? Here's what I think...
    I read this post from Darren Draper and his response to Utah's discussion of common core standards. Read his thoughts. Here's my response on my current thinking on Common Core right now - I thought I'd put it here. "I think that in terms of the "big picture" of having a common interface - having a common core set of standards makes sense. The states have proven that they can create a convoluted hodge podge of stuff that they really can't keep updated. That being said,I think the question that is coming to me at this point is: who updates common core when mistakes are there and also, does common core PRESCRIBE what to think in some areas like history and science. The math, writing, and reading standards are the first because they make sense and are far less controversial, but even those have been accused of taking kids down to the lowest common denominator and not pushing higher order thinking. OK, so those standards need improvement -- who does it and HOW? WHO is responsible for addressing these issues. I think also, the thought of having science and history for example prescribed to us makes me nervous. I look to my friend Suzie Nestico to help me understand these standards as she knows far more than I do. I find that many standards are now written with an implicit worldview attached and that is what bothers me. I think that it is important to read many different aspects of history and there are aspects of it that are left out in many "versions" of history. Which "version" will we adopt as a country. The very fact it would be so is somewhat troubling to me. I had some history profs in college - if they had their world view imposed upon the rest of us - we'd be far worse off than we are now. So, I think the biggest issues I have are not that we NEED common standards - because we do. Many countries have them. It is who is the governing body? Who is making it up? How will standards be edited? The truth is that the people who control the standards will control much of the thought of the next generation and it is that sort of thing that makes most American's nervous. We've long had independent and diverse states and while common core has its advantages - this one issue of WHO behind the WHAT of the standards has many people (including me) wanting to know more. "
    tags: education commoncore edreform learning

  • OER Rubrics and Evaluation Tool | Achieve.org
    This tool helps you evaluate Open education tools to see how they align to Common Core  state standards. By using this rubric, you can demonstrate how resources that are free can be integrated into your curriculum. There are 7 of the 8 already created. IF you want to save money while you align standards you must share this with your curriculum directors and administrators. Use this as an opportunity to increase quality AND save money (that is a win for everyone.)
    tags: education oer edreform news savemoney curriculum commoncore

  • Teacher: One (maddening) day working with the Common Core - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post
    The Washington Post has a quite distressing bug common remarks about Common Core exemplars. Is going too much by the common core doing to take us down to a lower common denominator than we are at already? I'm not sure but this type of article is very concerning. "Each teacher read individually through the exemplar lesson on Lincoln’s speech. When we began discussing it, we all expressed the same conclusion: Most of it was too scripted. It spelled out what types of questions to ask, what types of questions not to ask, and essentially narrowed any discussion to obvious facts and ideas from the speech.
    tags: education edreform commoncore higherorderthinking scripts

  • Top Online School, James Madison High School, Implements Common Core Standards - Times Union
    This from PR Web James Madison High School, a leading online high school, has proven to be an early adopter among the more than 130,000 primary and secondary schools across the United States. The accredited online high school is one of the first schools to implement The Common Core State Standards."
    tags: education news commoncore

  • Status of State Adoption of Common Core Standards - ASCD
    Current adoption of common core standards on the ASCD website shows that Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Virginia, Texas, and Alaska are remaining as stand alone standards. Arizona and New Mexico seem to have adopted them without issuing an official announcement. I know they are with controversy, but perhaps we should move towards modifying common standards versus going back to a state by state model. Certainly history and science are full of controversy.
    tags: education curriculum commoncore

  • CBAL ELA Competency Model and Provisional Learning Progressions - home
    This is interesting. ETS has launched a website about: "Educational Testing Service (ETS), the world's leading measurement and research organization, has launched a new website to stimulate discussion, debate, and promote empirical research to help teachers and students meet the goals of the English language arts (ELA) Common Core State Standards." but this is most definitely a wiki (looks like wikispaces.) I find it fascinating that a company would use a wiki because so many have resisted this. I wonder who can join and who can edit. Interesting. It says you can join. It will be interesting to see what they are doing with this. Perhaps some of you common core experts should join.
    tags: education commoncore engchat news composition

  • lordofsurvival / FrontPage
    This wiki used at MICDS (a great school in St. Louis where I've been before) is a Lord of the Flies survival game using a wiki. This is a great idea for a lesson plan with collaborative writing as well as understanding the book content.
    tags: education teaching writing commoncore

  • Common Core Resources
    For those who have told me that there is no use for pinterest in schools, here is a common core pinterest curated by Liane Courtney. Most web 2 tools can be useful, it lies in the willingness of users to make them so.
    tags: education teaching commoncore writing

  • Nobel Prize Economist Refutes David Coleman’s Crackpot Literacy Theory | Dailycensored.com
    I've been getting dm's asking me to mention the controversies around David Colement and the common core curriculum standards. The concept that "informational text" is the only thing of value is being questioned. I think that the need for common core is there, but perhaps the standards themselves are at question.  I would challenge educators who disagree with the current common core standards to suggest alternatives. If you look at the major innovations in technology - it happened when a few interfaces were standardized. We do need common standards, I guess the question is if it should be common core or if common score should evolve. 
    tags: education commoncore
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Related articles

  • Collaborative Writing in the Cloud #engchat

  • ISTE 2012 Preview: Collaborative Writing and the Common Core

  • Sesame Street Resources aligned to Common Core State Standards via @sharemylesson

  • The Most Useful Resources For Implementing Common Core - I Hope You'll Contribute More

  • My View of the Common Core Standards

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IdeaConnection: Open Innovation success story: Open Innovation: Goldcorp Challenge

Posted on 07:08 by Unknown


"The Goldcorp Challenge was launched in March 2000 and 400 megabytes worth of data about the 55,000 acre site was placed on the company’s website. Everything that the company new about the Red Lake mine was a mouse click away. Word spread fast around the Internet and within a few weeks submissions came in from all over the world as more than 1,000 virtual prospectors chewed over the data." There were 100 sites identified, 50% of them unknown to the company based upon this data. Goldcorp became one of the most profitable in the industry. This is an example of open data and collaboration. This type of challenge is being used increasingly as people "crowdsource" as they outsource their problem solving and R&D through the use of challenges. Challenges are also a way for the great, but unnoticed and unrecognized, to rise to the top. What if we opened up data that we collect on students for problem solving?

via Diigo http://www.ideaconnection.com/open-innovation-success/Open-Innovation-Goldcorp-Challenge-00031.html

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Uncomfortably Numb

Posted on 04:33 by Unknown
Written on June 16, 2011. I saved this post for when this book goes live so the whole thing would be real to you. These are my thoughts typed at 2 am on the last night of the last deadline of Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds. Now, I'm working on Collaborative Writing in the Cloud and am rereading because I'm reliving the same thing.


I'm sitting here about to watch today turn into tomorrow for the fifth day this week as the final manuscript for the Flat Classroom Book is combined in Adobe Acrobat Pro.
Photo snapped after weeks of
no sleep as I prepared to
overnight Flattening Classrooms,
Engaging Minds to Pearson.

I'm too tired to reflect right now. I've always romanticized authors. Alone in some cabin nestled amidst the Rocky Mountains all alone with a typewriter working away at some book that's going to change the world and inspire the millions. With a dog sitting on his feet and a fire crackling in the fireplace, he swigs a perpetually full cup of eternally warm coffee as the words flow. Everything comes so fast it is ready for the publisher and he's starting the next book in his mind before this one is printed.

Alone. Wow.

That is about the only thing in this picture that is accurate. Alone.

I'm too tired to really explain it. That probably explains a lot.

The best explanation is from Jeremiah:
" his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot."

Some people tire of writing. For those of us who love to write, that would be kind of like getting tired of breathing. We have to get those words out. When they flow we know and we're afraid to stop.


We don't sleep. We don't eat. We don't do anything but sit and write and proofread and fix and write and crash the computer and when we can't take it any more we crash for a moment just to pop wide awake two hours later knowing we have to start over.


Epic Movies

The great movies of history and obscure tv shows have kept me company. Gone with the Wind, about 30 episodes of Numb3rs (it doesn't distract me, I've seen them all twice anyway), the Christian classic Faith Like Potatoes, and Chariots of Fire (three times at least once a day.)


I like Chariots of Fire because each runner is driven. So driven that all they focus on is that one thing. Their families get mad at them. They are misunderstood. People tell them to stop. Lots of people don't even like them, but they go anyway. 

There are some quotes that really speak to me. This fire I have in my bones. I won't presume to call it a gift, really, more of a calling. A purpose:



I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure.
— Eric Liddell Chariots of Fire

Gosh, sometimes I wish I was really noble. But then, when I realize that if I follow God's calling on my life; His purpose, that I am noble. You are too. He made me to write. I've been doing it since Mom gave me my first journal when I was 8. Why have I always written? I don't know. It was rarely fiction, though. It was observations on life, poetry, non fiction. Wrangling words to unleash some new fine shade of meaning like an artist trying to make a new color no one had ever seen before. Somehow when I write I feel His pleasure.

Harold M. Abrahams: If I can't win, I won't run!
Sybil Gordon: If you don't run, you can't win.

It is a struggle. Wanting to do your best is not the same as being the best. But it is kind of like grades - you should do your best and if you are first then glory be - if you're not, say oh me and do better next time. But you have to realize that once you've given all you've got that is enough. It has to be.

When I've given all I can give then I'll know I've lived all I could live. I pray when I die that I'll not have one more word left to drip from my calloused fingers but that every word God called me to write will have been poured out of my tired body.
Harold M. Abrahams: I will raise my eyes and look down that corridor; 4 feet wide, with 10 lonely seconds to justify my whole existence. But WILL I? 
This is the one that breaks my heart. Abrahams and Liddell are such a contrast in characters! Such different people! Abrahams runs to win (and because he has a chip on his shoulder) and Liddell runs because he feels called. If you've read my blog you know that I was very much shaped by my middle school years.

Thoughts in the Night

For a while I actually believed I was worthless and no one would ever like me. That insecurity comes back to haunt me.

When I'm sitting with all of you at the edublogger cafe at ISTE and I see one of you and feel like you are actually happy to see me, it feels surreal sometimes. I felt the same thing at Georgia Tech. Every once in a while I think some guy in the corner is going to speak up and tell everyone to let me know that it was all a big joke and that no one really liked me anyway.

I had way too many people who used me in middle and high school. They'd use me to help them with their grades or to do something and once it was over, they'd cast me aside and I'd realize that I was used yet again.

That is why I'm so distrustful of people sometimes. I like real people who care about other real people. The kind who look you in the eye. I get so many emails now. People wanting to guest blog. People pretending like they read my blog when I know it is just a form letter - pr firms sending me their press release like they are some long lost friend. People who just want to use me for this blog or Twitter or whatever.

That's why my "old friends" have such an advantage. The "big time" presenters who were nice to me when I wasn't cool and the cat was something I fed every morning before I went to school. Those are the people I trust.

Some "famous" edtech gurus wouldn't talk to me until I had 10,000 people reading this blog. Sure, I'm cordial, but you're not going to see me sitting cosy because that would be using them and that stinks.

People like Alfred Thompson, David Warlick, and Stephen Downes, Miguel Guhlin, Wes Fryer, Cheryl Oakes, Sharon Peters who like newbies and are kind, these are people I appreciate and have my loyalty. But I also make a lot of new friends like Anne Mirstchin, Angela Maiers, Andrew Ko, Anne Ostholthoff, Kirby Salerno, Pooky Hesmonhaulgh, Stephen Anderson, and Jerry Blumengarten who are just kind, helpful, hard working people. (And so many more, I'm not naming - please don't be upset if I left you out, it was a matter of time and top of mind.)

Then there are some people who love newbies but are reverse snobs and if you get a certain number of followers they drop you. That hurts. They think you think you're too big for your britches, and quite honestly, I know I went through a phase where I was too big for my britches: literally and figuratively.  But my friends loved me anyway and knew that I'd come back to center and that I'd realize that in the grand scheme of things I'm no big deal. The big deal is if I can use the blessings of your friendships and following to help others and bless the world. That would be a big deal. Unforgiveness for the inevitable screw up hurts but I have to forgive anyway. Their bitterness will only hurt them.

Then there are those who are your friend till you screw up. Unfortunately, we all screw up. Or, I should say fortunately, because then you find out who your true friends are.

Numb and Pondering Something Dumb

Well now, I'm numb. I'm exhausted. I don't know what this book or I will become but I do know that it will go to print. Once I sat at my computer looking at all the files wondering what would happen if I just selected all the files and pressed delete and moved on with my life. In many ways we are afraid to put ourselves out there.

We know that we will have misspelled some words and said something not quite right for that one person who doesn't publish anything and has made a career of semantic debate with little meaning.

I'm numb. Uncomfortably numb. In many ways, I hope this book will make people uncomfortable and let them be no longer numb to the great wide world out there.

Now the veil has been drawn back of what authoring is really about. A tiring, lonely, messy, exhausting business. And yet, it is the calling of my life and I will write rigorously until my fingers freeze in rigor. It is what I was made to do. I love it. Thank you to all of you who have made it possible by following this blog and telling others.
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Monday, 16 July 2012

The Age of Common Sense

Posted on 04:14 by Unknown
In the Information Age we are in dramatic need of some intelligence to it all. Information is everywhere, but where is the common sense?
iStockPhoto - used with permission

Does all the stuff make sense?

In the 1990's we all hit WalMart and the mall with our credit cards and started organizing our stuff only to realize that we didn't need all that stuff. Our closets were overflowing, our waistlines were growing, and our debt was showing. More didn't improve our lives and we should have known better, but we didn't.

When the Internet came along we started shopping online, racking up more debt all the time and losing ourselves in the wonder of the new library of Alexandria for hours at time.

Then, we connected with friends and thought that more was more again and the more friends we had  online somehow the more legacy we had. The more we shared, the less privacy we had. We were "liked" for goodness sakes, didn't that count for something?

Now, we can connect via our cell phones and smart phones. Every second we can be in touch with who had a baby, who got a promotion and who is on vacation. But more isn't more. More connections mean less time, less flow state, and less focus.

We can stream, find, connect, and remind ourselves 24/7 to do more and be more. But 1000 apps reminding me to do 10 things is just keeping me from doing those things I need to do.

When Kip turns me loose to blog, he says "do your stuff" and that is often what it is -- stuff. Not one specific thing but a thousand tiny things.

Making sense

My youngest son and I went rafting a few weeks a go.
Life is beautiful, fun, and a blast but those moments are often best when I get offline, away from all of this and make sense of things. 

Marketers have gotten so incredibly good at targeting me that my inbox is full, customized ads show up on the side of every website, and hyped up product launches make me think I have to have that or this new apps. My kids buy music and tune out or get psyched for something big while I buy an app so I can squeeze one more ounce of something out of this life I'm trying to live.

So many people blame everyone else. In the US we have 2 political parties sworn to fight to the death but if they don't back off and start to work together, they'll find they didn't kill each other but rather, the nation they supposedly love. The truth is power is what people love and importance and being "followed" and "liked" and whatever narcissitic mess someone else can invent in order to make us feel important and like our life of more is not really worth less.

Wisdom doesn't guarantee you popularity, just legacy. We need more wisdom and a good old healthy dose of Grandma's common sense.

The Age of Common Sense would be a blessing

Common sense. Good, plain old common sense. We've had the Industrial Age and the Information Age. We can often be defined by the age in which we live. 
via fanpop

All the stuff sprayed on my hair didn't make me prettier in the 80's,


closet
the stuff in my closet didn't make me happier in the 90's,
nor did all the bookmarks in the 00's,
nor did all the friends in the 10's,
nor do all the connections nor the fact that I can tweet from the bathroom just before I hop in tub.

What has made me happier is getting offline for longer periods of time, looking people in the eye, spending my mornings on my knees asking God what I should do with my day, and applying common sense before I buy another app, before I go shopping or before I spend a dime or my precious time on anything.

If I could name an age and wish it upon us, it would be the age of Common Sense. The whole world is being seen in "shades of grey" - and this attitude of "what is right for you may not be right for me" is crazy -- murder is wrong and so is lying and stealing.

Freedom has always come at a price and every human being on this planet deserves respect as a human being but not necessarily the right to be heard. Some people are crazy and others are crooked and their ideas and ideals don't belong alongside great men and women of history. 

As I am inundated and my inbox is full, I'm feeling completely and utterly rebellious. I think common sense has gone out the window but I'm not just going to whine about it. So, I'm proclaiming my own age of common sense including:
  • Time with family, in nature, exercising, reading, and talking to people are just as important as online time. 
  • I will not elevate a person who is not there over a person who is right there. I will pay attention to people. People are important. I will be PRESENT.
  • I'm just not going to get hyper over anything NEW because it is new. I'm not a fangirl who worships any person or gadget or app, that is ridiculous.
  • I will look for people who are up front about who they are, their motivations and even their beliefs. We've been in a time of "abstaining" - no one wants to tell anyone what they believe because we're to the point that some people think "if you're not like me, I'm not going to follow you." I will look for honest, truthful people and work hard to be one myself. I will keep following people who are different from me, that is OK.
  • I will be minimalistic in the apps, alerts, and streams I allow into my life but intentional about participating where I want to be. If I can't use my iPad because I'm being alerted that Talking Tom needs to be "fed" then that is over the top.
  • I'm a human being not a human doing. Being is as important as doing and vital to my own sanity.
  • I'm going to go with the research that the fountain of youth is exercize. Mrs. Grace Adkins who is 80+ now rides her bike for an hour 6 days a week. She's de-aged 15 years, has lost 20 pounds, and still comes to work 5 days a week. She feels better than most 50 year olds I know. I'm going to work out an hour a day 6 days a week, no matter what. Tweeting another tweet and blogging another blog isn't going to make me live longer, exercise can.
  • I want to find people who have common sense and wisdom but also let them be human's who mess up. I'm not going to run away from a person because they screw up once. This "disposable people" society is ridiculous where people mess up and can never be forgiven. I guess it makes people feel better than a great person who messes up but part of my faith is the belief that I can be forgiven and have the ability to start over at any moment in my life.
  • My followers, friends, and those I follow are a cool, fun, powerful way to interact but I will not give them more importance than my husband or children. 
  • Helping others live their dreams by being helpful and shining the spotlight on greatness wherever it is, is a lasting legacy.
  • A cell phone in my hand does not excuse rudeness. I will not stand up in front of people who are there in order to capture a moment for those who aren't. Manners start with me.
  • Complaining about everybody else is a sorry way to live life and will make me bitter and worthless. I will be the kind of person I think this world needs and ask God to give me wisdom to do that.
What would you add to the age of common sense? I wish we could start using more of it.

Some would say ziplining isn't good common sense. But that is not what I'm talking about in this post. Common sense is that I left my iPhone behind and enjoyed every "wahoo" and "wow" on this trip. Common sense is taking time to go to the mountains with your family even if it means you lose a little privacy. Common sense is living your life offline as well as online and encouraging others to do the same. For life to be sweet, it takes more than a tweet. Get out there and live it!

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    Sadly, my Diigo post- to blog feed is down and so these GREAT resources didn't post since July 3rd (and I've been blogging every day...
  • 86 Productivity Tricks, Tips, and Apps
    The wordle made from the tags and bookmarks shared in this post. Wordles are a phenomenal productivity tool and I'm starting to have s...
  • Perspective on Problems
    She was a thin little thing in a man's t-shirt two sizes too big. The crumpled dollar and some change were in her hand as she set her lo...

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Blog Archive

  • ▼  2013 (241)
    • ▼  October (11)
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      • Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 10...
      • Join the elementary art project that will help the...
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      • Creativity for kids: November 21 and every day wit...
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